Decision makers

Stop New York's Mute Swan Management Plan

The revised mute swan management plan proffered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) essentially aims to eliminate the entire population of 2,200 Mute Swans in the state within the next ten years - this is unacceptable.

After the DEC’s release of a Draft Management Plan in January 2014 proposing the complete elimination of Mute Swans in New York State, an unprecedented number of comments were submitted in opposition, demonstrating unequivocally that compassionate New Yorkers want Mute Swans to be protected, not eliminated.

New York's mute swans should be protected, not controlled or eliminated. The rationales provided for killing these magnificent creatures are flawed, and countless experts have submitted comments and issued public statements critical of the scientific basis for the DEC’s proposal. Regarding them as an invasive, non-native species is supported by no clear-cut scientific proof and is a matter of dispute. This categorization may be inaccurate and should not be relied upon to decide their fate.

We shouldn’t kill off one animal population, at the very least, without unequivocal evidence to support such extreme and irreversible action, which the DEC has failed to provide.